FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT SOCIAL ISSUES - PAGE 2

For those Americans unnerved by the popularity of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, a new study from the University of Michigan will come as little surprise. And it might even add some smugness. The gist of the study: Narcissists “like” Facebook and Twitter. A lot. And social media in general “reflect and amplify” our culture's deepening narcissism. The study, by University of Michigan researchers, Elliot Panek, Yioryos Nardis and Sara Konrath, was published online in the journal Computers in Human Behavior.

William Kunkler III , a Chicagoan and member of the billionaire Crown family, remembers chatting with U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan at a tailgate before the Notre Dame versus University of Southern California football game last fall in South Bend, Ind. "He said he thought Gov. (Mitt) Romney would need someone from within the Beltway on his ticket, someone who knew how the machinery of Washington worked," Kunkler recalled. If the seven-term congressman intended to plant the idea that he would make an excellent vice presidential candidate, it worked on Kunkler, a Ryan donor and lifelong Republican.

Three cheers for United Colors of Benetton, the quirky Italian clothier best-known for controversial ads that focus more on social issues than product marketing. The company's spring 2000 campaign seeks to focus attention on capital punishment in the U.S. by presenting humanizing portraits of Death Row inmates. Titled "Looking death in the face," the campaign features photographs of 26 Death Row inmates in U.S. prisons. Their faces are appearing on billboards and magazine ads across the world with the words "Sentenced to death," in bold letters above their portraits.

Looking at columnist Bob Greene's picture above another story of a child abused by an adult, I couldn't help but wonder, why is this man smiling? Wouldn't a serious expression on picture day be more appropriate for Tribune columnists who often focus on serious social issues?

A broad coalition of U.S. religion leaders has issued a statement calling racism "an evil that must be eradicated from the institutional structures that shape our daily lives, including our houses of worship." The endorsers represented, among others, the Roman Catholic bishops, National Council of Churches, Southern Baptist Convention, Greek Orthodox archdiocese, National Congress of Black Churches, Judaism's three major branches, national Muslim organizations and Native American religions.

When it comes to solving complex social issues, such as racism or homelessness, the answers are certainly not easy to find, but one group of people at the Union Church of Hinsdale is trying to help. The group, which has about 20 members, is the church's social issues committee. They meet monthly to decide what strategy the church should follow to try to meet any number of challenges, from poverty or crime to the environment. "We're dealing with what our congregation should do next," said Hank Maxwell, a long-time committee member who lives in Hinsdale.

By R. Shankar Nair. and R. Shankar Nair is senior vice president of a Chicago engineering and architecture firm | December 26, 1996

Welfare. Affirmative action. Crime. Abortion. Gay rights. Prayer in public schools. Pornography. Illegitimacy. All of these are noisy battlegrounds in the war over "values." But all values are not equal. Welfare, affirmative action and crime are judged to be important to society as a whole. Public concern about these "social" issues is held to be rational, and based on the tangible interests of the large majority of Americans. Abortion, homosexuality, school prayer, illegitimacy and concerns about marriage and the family are judged to be issues on which there can never be consensus in a secular society.

By Lisa Richwine LOS ANGELES, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Entertainment company Participant Media, one of the backers of the hit historical drama "Lincoln", will launch a cable TV network next summer with programming that focuses on social issues of interest to the millenials generation of teens and young adults. The channel's original programming, films and documentaries will be aimed at viewers age 18 to 34 in the large demographic group known as millenials, Participant Media CEO Jim Berk said in an interview on Monday.

Ricardo Arjona , one of the top-selling Latin recording artists, makes a return to the U.S. with his "Metamorfosis" tour in support of his latest release, "Independiente. " The follow-up to Arjona's Grammy-winning "Poquita Ropa" features songs recorded over four years, with Arjona's brand of songwriting — where he never misses the turn of a metaphor — delivered with a more experienced hand. Why go: You don't have to think of this as a Valentine's Day show (but you can), as Arjona's music can range from Latin pop and rock to Tejano and norteno, and cover subjects from love to social issues.

In 1972, Stanley Kubrick granted Tribune film critic Gene Siskel a rare interview in London after Kubrick had completed "A Clockwork Orange." Following are some excerpts, in question-and-answer format, from that interview: What are you concerned about in the way the world is? What troubles you? First of all, I don't choose stories as political tracts. The fact that (Anthony) Burgess' novel ("A Clockwork Orange") happens to be about something that now happens to be particularly topical--behavioral psychology and the conditioning of antisocial behavior, with its particular relevance to (psychologist B.F.)